An Old Idea Takes Root

Jackson Victory Garden Downtown

Will the Victory Gardens of 2011 save the Economy? Probably not but we are still early in our recent catastrophy. During WW2 people grew Victory Gardens. In a 1943 Comic Book Superman and Batman grew a Victory Garden together. There were Government Poster of Victory Gardens: "Will you have a part in Victory? Every garden a munition plant" "Plant a Victory Garden - A garden will make your rations go further" "Uncle Sam says garden to cut food costs" "Dig On for Victory" Many people took photos of their Victory Gardens and photos of the whole family digging in the Victory Garden. They even had newspaper articles about the Victory Garden of '43 or the Victory Garden of '44. Books about how to plant Victory Gardens and where and when to plant them. People even made creative signs at their gardens. People with no yards planted gardens on city property. Even had Victory Gardens during WW1 and Germany also grew them. Growing Victory Gardens helped save food for the troops thus saving the military money. Saturday Evening Post and Life Magazine did stories about Victory Gardens. People bought 66,000 pressure cookers in 1942 and that grew to 315,000 pressure cookers in 1943. People grew about 20 million gardens during WW2 and harvested around 10 million tons of food, so the Victory Garden program was a success. http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html But in Oak Park Michigan this year a mother of 6 tried to grow a Victory Garden after the city put in sewer lines and tore up her front lawn. She was fined and charged with a misdemeanor for noncompliance with a city ordinance that says only suitable materials may occupy lawn space within the city's boundaries. http://www.blogher.com/forget-victory-gardens-theyre-now-misdemeanor?wrap=blogher-topics/food/locavores&crumb=106887 No official definition exists of suitable materials. When they asked city officials what suitable materials meant, they said shrubs bushes and flowers. Those seem not very tasty to me. I have not seen too many Victory Gardens yet. Have seen a few Herb Gardens and some Ivy gardens so people dont have to mow their lawns!